Thursday, July 24, 2014

I’m ready for some of my blocks to start looking like a quilt. Let's start adding sashing squares to connect the
blocks. If you have been diligent in
attaching background honeycombs to your blocks, you should have several blocks ready
to start stitching into rows. For the
sashing connectors you will need sashing fabric and the small 1” square paper pieces.

Selecting fabric for the sashing can seem overwhelming. We’re
using so many different colors in the blocks it may seem like an impossible
task to select a color that will go with everything, but I have purposely not
selected a fabric to recommend because I want you to select a fabric that will
make your quilt your own. That may sound
like a “chicken’s way out,” but as I learned many years ago from teacher and
setting expert, Sharyn Craig, all colors work together – just look out at your
flower garden if you don’t believe me! The color you select for the sashing will
set the color tone for your finished quilt. If you want to pull out the purple colors in
the blocks and end up with a purple quilt, use a purple
sashing fabric...or change the word purple to red…or blue…or gray. The choice is yours and will make your finished
quilt distinctly yours. There is no
right or wrong so don’t be afraid to make a decision – just select a tone-on-tone
fabric you love in your favorite color! Here is the fabric I selected to use in my quilt:

I purchased approximately 3 yds. of sashing fabric to make my
quilt the size of the original Lucy Boston quilt. For a smaller version, buy accordingly. If you’re fussy cutting it’s impossible to
calculate exactly how much you’ll need, so buy generously!

Sashing squares will be prepared the same way as the
honeycombs. I am not doing any fussy cutting for the sashing so I
simply cut the fabric into 1½” squares with the rotary cutter and glued them to
the square paper pieces. If you plan to
fussy cut, use the 1” square acrylic template for placement when
cutting. ***Note: If you measure the square acrylic template
you will see that it measures1 7/8” instead of the 1½” cutting measurement I
used. The template allows for a 3/8”
seam allowance which I felt made the small squares too bulky so I chose to cut
slightly smaller, but if you’re fussy cutting leave the seam allowance as it is
on the template.

Once your square shapes are prepared, sew them to your blocks
using the same technique you have been using to sew the honeycombs. The squares are small so there is a lot less
stitching and the blocks go together quickly.

Voila! A good start to
the first row!

I’m using the setting from the “Lucy Boston Patchwork of the
Crosses” book for my quilt, but there are other ways to set the blocks together. I’ve posted just a few quilts using different
settings on our pinterest page. Click
here to check them out.

This Lucy Boston Blog Along started on April 3 and posts every Thursday. Click here to go back to the first post.

Monday, July 21, 2014

This
commissioned quilt was beautifully pieced and hand quilted by Pat who gave Mary
Ellen all the credit for selecting the fabrics for the quilt! It turned out to
be one of Pat’s favorites and she wished she could keep it for herself.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

For those of you who are worried you're spending too much time quilting, or, maybe your family is complaining because there's no dinner on the table...
here's scientific proof that maybe you should be quilting more!
Click here to check out a recent NPR report on a scientific study that used quilting in its research to determine the best ways to prevent memory loss. Quilting was one of the top success groups! Are we surprised by that?

Can you see where I cut to get my center design? If you're having trouble, focus on the little pink diamonds and locate them on the fabric. There are so many ways to use this stripe fabric - I can't wait to see the blocks you create!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Congratulations to Barb who was the first person to bring in a finished quilt to Little Quilts for the Row by Row Experience Shop Hop. For her quilt, Barb selected her eight favorite row patterns from all the shops she visited in Georgia and Tennessee, and then came up with this cute setting idea.

As the winner, Barb got to pick twenty-five fat quarters for her prize. From the looks of what she picked, I'd say her next quilt is going to be blue and white! Congratulations, Barb!

We hope all of you are visiting lots of fun new shops during this Row by Row Experience Shop Hop. It's been exciting for us to see visitors from many different states

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Store manager and Baltimore Album Applique teacher, Wanda Hizer (on the left) finished hand appliqueing this gorgeous 92" square quilt top several years ago and recently had it machine quilted by Michelle Wyman (on the right). Michelle quilted around all the individual applique pieces and finished the center with cross hatching.

The outer border was quilted with a beautiful feather scroll design. The wool batting gives the quilting a trapunto look. The applique pattern is 'Mrs. Brown's Quilt' by Terry Clothier Thompson.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

When Ann, a long-time member of Little Quilt's Prairie Women Sewing Circle, passed away recently, her husband brought in the last quilt she had been hand quilting and asked if we could finish it for him. So, we hosted an old-time quilting bee! All Ann's friends from the Prairie Women club spent the day finishing the quilt and sharing memories of Ann. There's one thing we knew for certain - Ann would have loved the idea of a quilting bee! Everyone was so happy to be able to finish the quilt for such a dear friend and we know her family will enjoy the "warm hugs" from Ann they receive every time they use the quilt. Ann's husband will be taking the finished quilt to North Carolina where he's moving to be closer to family.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Are you becoming overwhelmed
with the amount of fabric in your scrap bag? Mary Ann joined the Scraps Of Life Club here at Little Quilts in January and finished this stunning king size quilt in July!

Everything except the sashing and outer border
came from her scrap bag and Mary Ann said she noticed a significant reduction in
her scraps when it was finished! The
quilt will go to her sister whose entire house and everything in it was lost in
a fire last year.

The quilt uses
strips of fabrics and a strip set method of construction.When you make the blocks, there are pieces of
the strip sets left over.

Not wanting to put any scraps back INTO the scrap bag, Mary Ann used
all the leftovers to make this smaller lap quilt or wall hanging.

The Scraps of Life class focuses on using even the smallest amounts of scraps in your stash. The blocks are all simple to construct, but the projects are fun and challenging in their settings. This summer the group is working with baby Bow Tie blocks. A new project using Four-Patch blocks will be starting in September. Think about joining the group to trim your scrap bag!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Are you ready to take a break from stitching? Read on to find out about a good book you might like to try!Lucy Boston was an author
as well as a quilter. She was in her
sixties when she wrote her first book, “Yew Hall,” followed by a series of
children’s books that made her famous. In the books she used her home, the Manor at
Hemingford Grey, as the model for Green Knowe, the house in the story. The
first of the children’s series, “The Children of Green Knowe” was published in
1954 and was a runner-up for the Carnegie Medal. The illustrations in the books were drawn by
Lucy Boston’s son, Peter.

I loved the story of
Tolly, a small boy who comes to visit the great-grandmother he’s never met who
lives in a magical old manor house dating from the Norman Conquest and
continuously inhabited by his ancestors, the d’Aulneaux, later the Oldknowe or
Oldknow, family.The manor was swimming in
water from the winter floods and Tolly arrived at the door at night in a
boat.What a way to set the stage for
the mysterious and magical events of the story!Above the fireplace hangs a picture of three children who grew up at
Green Knowe during the reign of Charles II in the 17th century.Tolly explores the rich history of his family
through a series of stories his great-grandmother tells him about the children
in the picture.He finds the children’s
playthings hidden here and there around the house and begins to encounter, not
frighteningly, what appear to be the spirits of the three descendants.

The little toy mouse from the story

In the story, real life
and fantasy intermingle in the most delightful way - it’s a fun book not just
for children, but for adults as well!I
found the book at my local library.

The book was adapted for
television in 1986 in the BBC production The Children of Green Knowe.

In the story, Tolly’s bedroom is
reminiscent of this bedroom at the Manor.
The rocking horse and bird cage are both part of the story.

There is certainly something fascinating about the manor. Today, many
people visit to experience a place they imagined as a child after reading Lucy
Boston’s Green Knowe books and studying their illustrations, which were
lovingly drawn by her only son, Peter. Far
from being a reconstruction in a theme park or an uninhabited museum, the house
is first and foremost a home, currently inhabited by Lucy’s daughter-in-law, Diana Boston – a characteristic which only adds to
its appeal.

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

One of our auto-ship customers, Jackie, sent us this picture of two of her earlier Little Quilt projects from many years ago. On the arm of her chair you can see her version of our pattern “Gardens”. Under the table lamp you can see another Little Quilts Favorite, the little heart quilt! If the tulips in the arm chair quilt look familiar, we adapted them into our row for the Row By Row Experience nationwide Shop Hop going on until Sept 2.

Here is a close up of the early
heart quilt from Little Quilts called Country Rose. She signed and dated it 1986
when she made it! Wow! That is really a vintage Little Quilt with fabrics from
one of the original kits! It was her very first quilt she ever made!

She
participates in many of our BOM’s now….. I ‘d say she’s hooked!

The theme this year is “Sew A Season” so we have a spring and summer flower garden complete with lady bugs on the leaves!

For more information about participating shops, in the Row By Row Experience, click here. What a fun idea.

Monday, July 07, 2014

Kim Diehl and Henry
Glass Fabrics are teaming up to bring you a fun new club featuring exclusive
quilt and project designs stitched from Kim’s collections of fabrics.

Participating
in this club is easy! Simply purchase a starter
pack of 15 fabrics from Kim’s new fabric line, “Vintage Farmhouse”. Each month
for 6 months you will receive a free project hand-out for a “do-able” little
quilt (nothing larger than 40” square).
For extra fun, Kim will share extra little snippets and morsels in the
project handouts, including sewing tips and tricks, recipes, crafty things, and
ideas for decorating with quilts. Patterns
each month include clearly written project directions that have been edited for
accuracy, with full-size appliqué techniques when applicable. In addition,
we’ll include Little Quilt tips and shortcuts to make your piecing easier. Check
our notions page here for an extra small yo-yo maker you’ll need for one of the
projects.

Fabric Starter
Packs include fifteen fabrics in varying amounts – 12 yds total - gathered from
Kim’s newest fabric line, “Vintage Farmhouse”, that include the main fabrics,
borders, and backgrounds from the seven projects. This block of the month is a little
different. We’re not giving you
individual kits each month as we feel it’s better to have the whole collection
to work from to get a scrappier look.
Supplement this pack with your Kim Diehl stash and other fabrics to give
an instant “scrap basket” look that Kim’s quilts are known for. Don’t have a “Kim Stash”? Extra bundles (6 fat quarters/bundle) from
previous Kim Diehl collections or complimentary fabrics, in background/neutral
fabrics, or Medium/Dark fabrics are available.

There are 6 quilts in this collection they are all so lovely. (one of them has two options, either an applique or pieced medallion center. One of the quilts that we will be working on is the Sunday Supper.

Sunday Supper

This is quilt uses a beautiful 6 star block design set cute sashing and surrounded by flying geese. Another quilt in the series is Widdlytinks.

Widdytinks

This quilt is so fun will all the yo-yo's that make a adorable pattern and will add so much charm to the quilt.

Friday, July 04, 2014

You can get Patriotic Little Quilts NOW! sent to your computer, via e-book. And why am I telling you this? Well, it is Independence Day of course BUT because you can do so for $7.76, this weekend only at the Martingale website. The photo of the 9-11 project of little quilts, is and story is in it, as well. Maybe you are new fans since then. Check it out.

Thursday, July 03, 2014

I saw this block on a pinterest post and liked it so much I wanted to make one for myself. It uses the same brown stripe fabric you used in the last block, but it's cut from a different part of the stripe. The pink fabric is also the same as last month, again, cut just a little differently. It's amazing how many different looks you can get with the same fabric! I found the green fabric in my stash.

Have fun with this block!

If you'd like to follow this Blog Along from the beginning, click here. New posts appear every Thursday.

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

We haven't seen Allison for a while. She came in yesterday to show us her progress on her 1/2" hexagon quilt. Remember she was making it for the Judie Rothermel 25th Anniversary contest last year...well she's getting close to the end. She brought it in to ask for help with the border. She has a few more rows of the cream background and we helped her decide that a border of solid black hexagons would be the best to do this beautiful quilt justice. Can't wait to see it finished. Allison plans to enter it in area quilt shows.

Once upon a time...

Three ladies met at Quilt Guild. They started making small quilts as wall hangings. These "little quilts" became so popular and before the girls knew it, they were selling them. The three ladies were so busy making small quilts, in 1986, they decided to sell kits so people could make thier own "little quilts." Not too long after that, they started designing thier own patterns. What started out as a "hobby" turned into a "little" business of selling kits and patterns. The three ladies wanted to be able to offer more to thier customers so in 1998, Little Quilts opened in an old corn mill in Marietta... and the rest, as they say, is history.